Who’s Afraid by Maria Lewis

July 28, 2016

Who’s Afraid is a wonderful, exciting new novel for young adult readers and fans of paranormal fiction.

Tommi is a young Scottish woman living an ordinary life, still grieving over the death of her mother. After travelling to New Zealand to track down her estranged, biological father, Tommi stumbles upon her extended family and they aren’t what they seem. They’re dangerous and they kidnap and torture her. Tommi escapes and runs back home to Scotland. But it’s too late – they know who she is now and she is quickly thrust into her birthright as the world’s most powerful werewolf. And the sudden appearance of a dark, mysterious (and very attractive) guardian further confuses her as her powers begin to develop and she begins to understand that her life can never be the same again.

Who’s Afraid is the start of a new series, and Tommi is a wonderful protagonist. She is confident, bold, passionate and motivated, but she is also brash and brazen and mature and intelligent. She is quick to judge her surroundings to escape trouble and she knows how to follow her gut instinct.

Maria Lewis does a marvellous job of easing the reader into this new paranormal world – there’s a lot of travel involved in the book so the reader does feel like there’s a mix between the ‘normal’ and ‘everyday’ world that is Tommi’s home in Scotland, and the paranormal side of her life that we are introduced to in New Zealand. As Tommi accepts who and what she is and begins training and learning about this new world, the reader is propelled into the middle of a centuries-old battle and a world peopled with expert warriors and vicious enemies.

The dialogue in this novel is smart, quick and realistic. The characters are engaging, entertaining and they hold the book together well. There are surprises and shock plot points in the novel that the reader won’t see coming – things happen that don’t usually happen in a young adult novel, and it’s refreshing and great to read. Maria leaves plenty of things open for book two in the series, which I hope will be on shelves soon.

I recommend this book to young adult readers, but also to readers looking for something a little different. I hadn’t yet found a book about werewolves that I enjoyed, but I really loved reading Who’s Afraid and I’m very much looking forward to the second book in the series.